A Different Path
by Sori Larl
Summary: Naruko Uzumaki, an orphan, an academy student. A girl with a secret that she doesn't know. Will the twists and turns of her life let her learn just what that secret is, or will Fate have other plans for her? A darkness is coming to the village of leaves, a darkness of its own creation. Just what, or who, is it? Rated M for violence and (later on) sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

Please skip down to the first row of X's if you do not want to read my greeting, the disclaimer, and my points on what is different between this story and canon.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to yet another Naruko story. Yes, my original intent was to try to make a world where the only difference was Naruto's gender, but I decided to fuck it and mess with a few things in the Narutoverse to change the story around a bit. Here's a few of the things that have happened prior to the events of the first chapter that you'll need to know:

1) Naruto is now a girl, named Naruko since I am terrible at giving names and it is a well-known name for the character. Naruko has been a girl since birth, or before birth, if you want to get technical.

2) Hinata still admires Naruko's perseverance, but, do to events that I will be explaining later, became friends with her when they were both ten. This means that Hinata will be somewhat OoC (Out of Character, for those of you who are unfamiliar) in this story, and that certain Hyuga's (such as Hanabi and Hiashi) will know Naruko personally, raising their opinions of her.

3) A variety of other things that I will either be explaining in the story (through flashbacks or exposition) or after some big event concerning the modified history has occurred (in this case, the changes would appear in list form, like this list, at the very bottom of the chapter)

IMPORTANT: If there are numbers in parentheses in the chapter itself that do not appear in a numerical list at the bottom of the chapter, please notify me through a comment or email as it means that I have filling you in on changes from the canon. Please do not be overly negative in your messages, however (ex: don't say "you forgot 7, dumbass").

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated with any of its publishers. Please support the official release.**

You will only see the disclaimer in this chapter. If I later decide to make this a crossover fanfic (it is not, and I do not currently hold any intentions to make it so later on), I will include a disclaimer in the beginning of the chapter that the crossover begins, in the bottom of the chapter that the crossover begins, or in the beginning of the chapter immediately after the crossover begins.

Now that all of that is out of the way, what say we begin, hm?

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Naruko? Naruko, are you even listening to me?!"

Most of the young blonde's classmates laughed as she turned from looking out the window to face her teacher, Iruka. This was not the first time she had been caught staring out the window today, and the other students found it funny that she was easily bored by their teacher's lectures on history.

"Sorry, sensei," Naruko said, shaking her head and making her short ponytail wobble a bit. "I must have zoned out again."

"Make sure it doesn't happen again," Iruka replied, pointing at the blackboard. "This is all review for the graduation exam, as I said earlier. Or were you not paying attention then, either?"

"Probably not," she muttered to herself, an expression of boredom settling on her features as she quickly looked over the bits of shorthand that Iruka had written down. She sighed, settling her cheek into a hand to hold her head up as sleep threatened to take her.

"Don't fall asleep, Naruko-chan!" a nearby student practically hissed at the blonde girl, prompting Naruko to look at her.

"Why not, Hinata-chan?" Naruko said, yawning a bit.

Hinata sighed in apparent exasperation, but a look in her lavender eyes revealed that she was just as amused by Naruko's behavior as everyone else in their class. "If you fall asleep, then Iruka-sensei might suspend you tomorrow and you won't be able to take the exam or graduate!"

Naruko snorted, stifling a laugh. "He knows that I'll make his hair go white in three weeks if he does that."

Hinata smiled a bit, a nearly silent giggle leaving her lips. "Like that time you put dye in his shampoo?"

"Yeah, but I'd make it stick this time," Naruko said, a contemplative look on her face. "After all, that was for making me fail that ninjutsu exam on a technicality."

"A technicality? Naruko-chan, your Henge had breasts!"

"So?"

"So, there were eight of them! And you were trying to Henge into the Sandaime Hokage!"

"If you two are done," Iruka stated in a neutral voice from the front of the classroom, "can we continue this lesson?"

"I thought you said it was review, Iruka-sensei?" Naruko asked innocently, tilting her head slightly. "How can it be a lesson if it's review?"

A vein pulsed on Iruka's forehead, the only sign of his anger through the deadly calm that he exhibited. Naruko swallowed nervously, certain that her punishment this time was going to be more than standing outside with a textbook balanced on her head.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruko sighed, careful not to jostle the twelve pound copy of _The History of Konohagakure no Sato_ balanced on her head. "So much for a review session," she muttered, suppressing a yawn.

"To be fair, you weren't learning anything anyways," Iruka said, leaning against the a raised block in the wall.

"True enough," Naruko replied, yawning full out now that she knew her sensei was there.

Iruka sighed. "Listen, Naruko. You're going to need to start paying attention to your superiors at some point. What do you think would happen if you were being given a high rank mission by the Hokage himself and were caught not paying attention?"

"I'd likely be reprimanded, possibly formally reprimanded, and then the old man'd either give the mission to someone else or repeat himself because I was the only person capable of fulfilling the mission's requirements," Naruko stated casually. At Iruka's blank stare, Naruko shrugged, adding, "What? I've had this conversation with the old man before. A few times, actually. That time I put red dye in the Hyuuga washing machines, the time I used a genjutsu to make Sasuke think that someone had pulled his pants down in public, and the two times that I painted the Hokage Monument pink all ended with me getting the 'paying attention' lecture from him."

Iruka sighed again. "How will you ever get into ANBU, much less become Captain, if you can't even pay attention to a history lesson in the academy, Naruko?"

"Simple: I'll show my skills when I can on missions, make sure that my Jonin-sensei knows that I've got the potential for the position before I hit Chunin, and make myself known for being an amazing kunoichi as I ascend to Jonin and later ANBU."

Another sigh from Iruka. Naruko just grinned cheekily at him, the textbook still sitting on her head.

"You're impossible, Naruko," Iruka muttered, rubbing his forehead.

Naruko's grin merely widened in response.

XxXxXxXxXxX

It was the day for the Konoha Ninja Academy Graduation Examination at last, and most of the students had already been processed through the final portion, which was completed one student at a time. Naruko Uzumaki was to be the second to last student to take the test, and her anxiety was building as she saw student after student walk out of Iruka's office wearing a Konoha headband, proof that they had passed the test.

Noticing her friend's distress, Hinata placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "You'll do fine, Naruko-chan," Hinata whispered the words of comfort, very much aware of the weight of her own headband.

Naruko flashed a quick smile to the blue-haired girl. "Thanks, Hina-chan," she said gratefully, leaning into the now-kunoichi's hand.

"Next! Naruko Uzumaki!" came the shout from Iruka's office as the door opened and a black-haired boy, now wearing his own Konoha headband, walked out. He walked past Naruko on her way in, and neither of them took much notice of the other. Sasuke Uchiha was not a person that Naruko liked, and she did her best to ignore her, which was easy since Sasuke did his best to ignore her and most of the other kunoichi in the class.

After closing the door to the office behind her, Naruko turned to face her sensei. Iruka was holding a clipboard, and his assistant teacher, Mizuki, was standing next to the box that used to contain twenty-seven headbands; it now only held two, the number of students still haven't taken this final test.

"Alright, Naruko," Iruka said gently, noticing the blonde's distress. "All you need to do is make two Bunshin."

Naruko blinked once, then chuckled, her unease dissipating instantly. "Is that seriously it?" Naruko asked, humor filling her voice as she raised an eyebrow.

Iruka smiled, nodding his head. "Yes, that is all that is required."

Naruko let out a laugh, then quickly began forming the seals for the basic ninjutsu. She breezed through the three hand seals required for the technique and brought her chakra to bear while putting an image of herself into her mind. Medium-length blonde hair, done up in a ponytail that barely reached her shoulders covered by a dark red, short-sleeved sweater; slight muscle definition on the arms, both of which were covered with a skin-tight black T-shirt; olive cargo pants, covered with numerous pockets and a pair of dark green kunai pouches on each hip; her slight frame and body structure; and, most importantly, her icy blue eyes and the three whisker-like scars on each cheek.

An instant after Naruko formed the third hand seal, four illusory copies of her appeared around her with only a flicker, all holding the same seal. The five blondes all stared up at Iruka, fox-like grins held on their faces, and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Congratulations, Naruko," Iruka said, beaming at the young blonde. "You may take a headband and return to the classroom."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," all five of the blonde said at once as they bowed in unison. Four of them disappeared, the telltale puff of smoke that would signify their dismissal absent. Naruko stepped over to Mizuki, head held high and pride shining in her eyes.

"Good job, Naruko," Mizuki said warmly, placing a blue cloth headband, the metal plate bearing a leaf, the symbol of Konoha, into her hand.

"Thank you, Mizuki-sensei," Naruko said, bowing her head as she acknowledged the praise from her superior. Before she pulled her head back up to face him, she swiftly wrapped the band around her head, tying the ends into a quick knot just above the base of her ponytail.

As Naruko strode out of the office, Mizuki's warm smile turned into a frown that nobody saw, anger filling his eyes.

XxXxXxXxXxX

A clock in Naruko's small apartment chimed ten, but the blonde was too filled with glee at her graduation to be able to sleep, and she couldn't help but read and reread the ninjutsu scroll that the Hokage had given her as a gift. Immediately after being told what he had given her, she had run to the training field nearest the school and begun practicing the jutsu.

"Katon: Endan!" Naruko whispered to herself again, her voice showing just how gleeful she was. Just as she was about to give in to temptation and try to launch a tiny little fireball into her kitchen sink, a knock sounded at her door, making her head snap up from the scroll and a light blush settle on her whiskered cheeks.

"Who'd be visiting at this time of night?" Naruko muttered to herself, picking a kunai out of one of the pouches on her hip as she stood, leaving the ninjutsu scroll on the couch where she'd been sitting. As she crept over to the door, the knock rang out again, much quicker and more urgently than before. She peered through the peephole and, seeing Mizuki's face, opened the door. "Mizuki-sensei?" Naruko muttered, her voice questioning.

A large scroll was worn on the Chunin's back, an odd sight considering he was in full combat regalia (which was an odd enough sight in and of itself). An unsheathed tanto was held in his right hand, and his other was balled into a fist.

"Mizuki-sensei?" Naruko repeated, alarm seeping into her voice.

"Hello, Kyuubi!" Mizuki shouted, swinging his tanto in a decapitating arc at Naruko's neck.

Not having time to take in his statement, or what it would mean to her, Naruko jumped backwards into her apartment, bringing up the kunai she had taken out earlier. Mizuki followed her, swinging his sword at her again, and she parried the blade with her kunai. Keeping her surroundings in mind, Naruko slowly managed to circle back around to the door, parrying and dodging the Chunin's strikes all the while.

Once the door was behind her, Naruko leaped backwards, gaining enough room to pull a pair of shuriken out of one of her kunai pouches. Mizuki, seeing what the blonde was doing, settled into a defensive stance and slowly began to advance on her. Naruko threw the shuriken at Mizuki, wincing when she saw that the wires on them had been cut by the tanto. She followed up by throwing her kunai at him while drawing another, then threw that one and pulled out yet another.

"I don't know why you attacked me, Mizuki," Naruko began, holding her kunai up defensively, "but I won't let you get away with it."

At this courageous boast, Mizuki couldn't help but bark out a laugh as he ran at her, his sword swinging again. "What do you think you can do, Kyuubi?! You're just a fucking genin!"

Naruko narrowed her eyes as the silver-haired man once more called her Kyuubi, but couldn't dwell on it as she was forced to parry constantly, and even then she still took a few cuts.

Naruko hissed in pain as Mizuki's tanto kissed her arm for the third time, and quickly began to think of an escape plan. The building's layout flicked through her mind as she parried yet another strike from Mizuki, and she realized that the only way out was the window at the end of the hallway.

'My landlord's gonna kill me for this,' Naruko thought as, grimacing, she locked her kunai against Mizuki's tanto, then pushed him back. The Chunin, off-balanced, stumbled backwards into Naruko's apartment, and, using a wire that she had only landed there through sheer luck, closed the door in front of him. Naruko then turned on her heel and ran down the hall, her hands already forming seals that she had formed only twelve hours earlier.

As the door to her apartment was blown off of its hinges, Naruko muttered, "Bunshin no jutsu," under her breath, and three illusory copies of herself appeared around her, one of them turning around and throwing equally illusory kunai and shuriken at Mizuki. He attempted to deflect the first one, and cursed when he realized that the weapons were illusions.

Reaching the window, which had been perpetually open ever since one of the apartment building's children decided to put superglue on it, Naruko and her remaining two clones jumped out, jumping over different rooftops and occasionally crossing paths to make sure that Mizuki had a hard time following her.

Mizuki quickly followed her, taking out a clone with a well-placed kunai. "Shit, she's making for the Hokage tower!" Mizuki muttered, speeding up. A chakra enhanced leap let him cut down the last clone and land right in front of Naruko, who immediately went into a defensive stance with the pair of kunai she held.

"This is the end, Naruko!" Mizuki shouted, bringing his blade down on the blonde. To his surprise, she made no move to block, and the blade passed through her without resistance, cleaving the illusion in half and dispelling it. "Fuck!"

The real Naruko, meanwhile, was steadily making her way through the streets as fast and silently as she could. 'Need to get to the old man, need to get to the old man,' Naruko kept repeating in her thoughts, her kunai safely tucked away in their pouches.

Naruko's instincts suddenly screamed at her, and, obeying them, she fell into a roll, narrowly avoiding the kunai that had been aimed for the back of her head. She rose into a crouch while turning to look at Mizuki, her eyes gleaming with fear and anger.

"Why are you trying to kill me?" Naruko asked simply, her right hand, unseen by Mizuki, digging through her kunai pouch. "What could you possibly gain by killing me? I'm an orphan who made Genin just today."

Mizuki grinned, teeth gritted despite his immense and insane glee. "Why, isn't it obvious, Kyuubi? I'm here to kill a demon!" he barked out, laughter ringing after his words. Naruko narrowed her eyes, her mind searching for a reason behind him continuing to call her Kyuubi, and finding only one.

"My birth on the day of the Kyuubi's death does not mean that I am its reincarnation," Naruko stated, finally finding what she was looking for in her kunai pouch. Gripping the kunai, she readied herself to throw it.

"Who said anything about reincarnation?!" Mizuki shouted, angry that Naruko still hadn't understood what he meant. "You are the Kyuubi!"

Naruko looked at him for a moment as he glared at her, waiting for her reaction, and then said, "Preposterous."

Whirling as she stood upright, the whiskered blonde whipped the kunai from her pouch into the air, throwing it skyward. After it flew high enough to not cause property damage, Naruko detonated the paper bomb tied to the kunai, signaling the entire shinobi population that a fight was going on.

And, with just how close the two fighting ninja were to the Hokage Tower, that meant Naruko only had to hold out for another minute, at most.

Mizuki, understanding what she just did, let loose an incoherent shout of rage and charged her, sword drawn and ready to swing. Naruko was unprepared for the speed that he rushed her at, and was unable to move more than an inch before he got to her.

Naruko's scream of pain pierced the night sky, and blood spurted into the air.

"Filthy demon whore!" Mizuki shouted, twisting his tanto and driving it deeper into Naruko's shoulder. "You've ruined everything!"

A sudden series of strikes hit Mizuki from behind, and he felt the chakra in his arms and legs being sealed away. One last strike hit him, this one at the base of his skull, and Mizuki dropped to the ground, dead.

As Mizuki fell, Naruko saw just who had killed him: Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan and Hinata's father. Veins bulged around his eyes, signifying his use of his clan's Kekkai Genkai, the Byakugan.

"Hiashi-sama?" Naruko asked in a whisper, her vision swimming and throbbing in time with her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Naruko-san?" Hiashi asked, kneeling before her and quickly looking her over. He frowned as he took in the full extent of the wound on her shoulder, Mizuki's tanto still embedded in it.

"Hiashi-sama?" Naruko repeated as she slowly began to settle into shock.

Nearly two dozen shinobi appeared around them in plumes of smoke; the majority of them wore masks, signifying them as ANBU, and at the head of them was Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

"Naruko!" Hiruzen exclaimed upon seeing her condition.

"She needs to go to the hospital immediately, Hokage-sama," Hiashi said, worrying over the young girl.

"Agreed," the aging Hokage said. "Eagle-san, can you take her there?"

The ANBU member, his mask patterned to resemble an eagle's eyes and beak, nodded his head. "Hai, Hokage-sama," he said, hurrying to pick up Naruko. Once he had picked her up, he disappeared, using his swiftness to rush her to the hospital.

"Report, Hiashi," Hiruzen said, deadly serious. Hiashi stood upright and snapped to attention.

"Hokage-sama, I don't know much of the events leading up to this. I only arrived moments before you did. However, I was able to identify the scroll Mizuki has on his back as the Scroll of Seals. Judging by how he was uninjured before I attacked him, I would guess that he stole the scroll and then attacked Naruko-san," Hiashi reported. "I was only alerted to the situation when the explosive went off, so I don't know any more about what happened."

"Thank you, Hiashi," Hiruzen said, dropping his serious attitude. "Thank you for protecting her."

Hiashi shook his head. "No need. I owe her for how she helped my daughter improve. It was just lucky that she was as close as she was to the Hyuga compound," he said, looking at the nearby wall that separated the compound from the rest of the district.

"Yes. Very lucky," the Hokage muttered to himself, his gaze locking onto what little was visible of the Hokage Monument from where he stood. Peeking out from behind the myriad of buildings and walls was the stone face of the Yondaime Hokage, his eyes seeming to stare right back at Hiruzen. 'Are you watching over her, Minato?'

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Ugh," Naruko grunted in pain as she woke up. Wincing at the slightly numbed agony in her shoulder, Naruko opened her eyes and took in the sterile white hospital room. "Ugh, I hate hospitals," the blonde muttered, pulling out the IV needle out of her arm.

"Naruko-chan," a voice croaked, making Naruko turn to it as she finished removing the needle. Hinata sat in a plastic chair next to the bed, her eyes wet with tears. "How are you doing?" Hinata asked, quickly looking over the blonde as she sat upright in her bed.

"I've been better," Naruko said, wincing again as pain lanced out from her injury. She yawned, using her good arm to rub some of the sleep from her eyes. "What's up?"

Hinata growled weakly. "You get your shoulder impaled in a fight against Mizuki-sensei, of all people, and you're asking me 'what's up'?!" Hinata rasped out, her voice creaky from her crying.

Naruko grimaced, looking away from the angry Hyuga. "Sorry," she muttered, looking at the white sheets still covering her legs. "How do you know about what happened?" Naruko asked.

"My father told me, Naruko-chan," Hinata said dryly. "Tell me what happened. Please, Naruko." Hinata's voice thinned, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes again.

"Hey, no crying, Hina-chan," Naruko said gently, wiping away some of Hinata's tear. "I'll tell you everything, but I think the Hokage is going to be here as soon as he knows that I'm awake."

"You know me too well, Naruko-chan," a voice said from the door. Naruko and Hinata looked over and saw none other Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Mornin', old man," Naruko greeted as Hinata let out a squeak and bowed her head to the Hokage.

"It's two thirty in the afternoon, Naruko," Hiruzen said, a note of humor in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruko muttered, waving her hand dismissively. "You're here to ask about what happened last night?" At the Hokage's nod, Naruko began to tell her story as quickly as possibly without leaving anything out. She left out one thing, and one thing only: Mizuki calling her the Kyuubi. In Naruko's mind, the fact was either the insignificant ranting of a madman, or it held the most meaning that anything in her twelve years ever had.

"Thank you, Naruko-chan," the Hokage said once Naruko had finished. "Get some rest; your shoulder looks like it still hurts."

"Yeah, it does," Naruko said, wincing. "See ya around, old man."

"You too, Naruko-chan," Hiruzen nodded to the blonde, then turned his attention to the young Hyuga still sitting at her bedside. "It was nice seeing you, too, Hinata-san," Hiruzen added, closing the door behind him as he left the room.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruko said, drawing the blue-haired girls attention back to her. "If I get out of here in the next couple of days, want to go get our ID photos taken together? Maybe get some lunch afterwards?"

Hinata smiled, nodding. "Of course, Naruko-chan," Hinata said softly, her mind still reeling from the life-or-death battle that Naruko had been in just the night before. Her eyes narrowed, however, as she added, "As long as it isn't ramen."

"Aw, but Hina-chaaan~" Naruko whined, making Hinata giggle. Naruko pouted, just barely catching herself before she could cross her arms. "Fine," Naruko sighed. "But you're paying!"

Hinata giggled again. "I always pay, remember?"

The two girls laughed together, but Naruko's mind was moving a mile a minute.

'Why did Mizuki call me "Kyuubi"? Was it just general dementia? Or was it something more...'


	2. Chapter 2

Naruko stretched her arms, cracking her neck as she walked alongside Hinata. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate hospitals?" Naruko asked, making Hinata giggle and roll her eyes.

"Twice today, Naruko-chan," Hinata said, wearing a traditional Hyuga kimono instead of her usual clothes. Naruko was still wearing her usual outfit, which she had to go back to her apartment in the slums to get after the hospital decided to wash the set she had been wearing immediately before releasing her. Hinata was confused by Naruko's unwillingness to wait for the clothes to be clean and dry, but Naruko had answered by saying that she hates hospitals.

Surprisingly, Naruko had been released the day after the Hokage visited her, meaning that she had recovered from a stab wound in less than forty-eight hours. Several of the doctors had wanted to examine her shoulder to see if they could find out just how she had recovered so quickly, but she had refused to yield to them, knocking out a doctor who had tried to sedate her to get her to cooperate. They were quick to sign her release forms after that.

"Well, it's true." Naruko sighed in pleasure as a loud crack echoed through the streets, having just cracked her back, and looked around as they kept walking. "Do you know who we're supposed to meet?"

"You're the one with the paper," Hinata said bluntly, making Naruko scratch the back of her head sheepishly.

"Oh, right," Naruko muttered, embarrassed, as she pulled a folded piece of paper out from one of her many pockets. "Let's see here... Looks like we're to meet... Oh, Iruka-sensei! Cool, we won't have to ask around for someone we don't know."

"Is it really Iruka-sensei?" Hinata asked, craning her head to look at the paper.

"Yeah. Looks like he does more than just teach at the Academy," Naruko said, looking up from the paper. Seeing Iruka, her hand shot up to wave at him. "Hey, Iruka-sensei!" she shouted, waving exuberantly.

"There you are, Naruko-chan, Hinata-chan," Iruka said, waving back at her, though not as blatantly. "The photographer has been waiting for a while, now."

"I told you to wait for the nurses to finish washing your clothes before we left the hospital, Naruko-chan!" Hinata snapped, rounding on the blonde.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Naruko said, her hands waving protectively in front of her face and chest. "Geez, why are you so upset?"

"Because I hate being late," Hinata practically growled at the blonde, making Naruko pale slightly in fear.

"How about I p-pay for lunch today, to make it up t-to you?" Naruko quickly stuttered out, afraid of Hinata's anger, and rightly so, after that time she'd "accidentally" dyed Hinata's panties, along with the rest of the Hyuga's underwear, a slutty red.

Hinata took a deep breath, then sighed, realizing that she was frightening her friend. "No, I'll pay," Hinata said softly, blushing slightly with embarrassment. "Sorry for snapping at you."

"It's okay, Hina-chan," Naruko said, sighing in relief.

Iruka cleared his throat, making both girls blush as they realized that they had an audience for that little scene. "If you two are a bit calmer, now," the scarred Chunin said, "the photographer is still waiting for you."

"Of course he is." On that note, both Naruko and Hinata walked into the small building. It was fairly nondescript, with mostly blank walls and a single white cloth draped from ceiling to floor over a single spot. A stool rested in front of the cloth, and in front of that was a camera mounted on a tripod.

In front of the camera stood a man, his hair grey from age and a pair of glasses resting on his nose. "Shall we get this started?" the man asked, gesturing to the camera. "One of you, sit on the stool and stay still."

Naruko nodded, quickly moving over to sit down. Hinata stood by Iruka, wanting to calm down a bit more before she went to have her picture taken. Naruko sat down and stared arrogantly into the camera, chin held high and mouth locked into a very small smirk as her eyes glimmered with arrogance.

The photographer pressed a button on his camera, and a brilliant flash lit from the tiny lens on the camera, making Naruko flinch and blink. The man snorted as Naruko rubbed at her eyes, pressing another button on his camera and printing a piece of plastic from a printer the table in the corner of the room, hidden from those who didn't look around when they walked in.

"Take your ID. Next!" the man exclaimed, boredom lacing his tone. Hinata hurried over to the stool that Naruko had just vacated and had her ID taken, although she didn't flinch or blink when the camera flashed, prompting an approving nod from the photographer. "You can take your ID too."

"Well, that was uneventful," Naruko said to Hinata as she grabbed her ID from the printer.

"As most things should be," Hinata said, smiling at the blonde and walking out the door. "Too many things can go wrong when you're involved, Naruko-chan!"

Just after she said that, a man-sized puff of smoke burst from the ground in front of them. As it cleared, it revealed a shinobi wearing a mask stylized to resemble a tiger. "Naruko-san, the Hokage wishes to speak with you immediately."

"Eh?" Naruko asked, cocking her head to the side. "Why?"

"He has been informed that someone has pulled a practical joke on the Inuzuka clan, and the logical culprit would be either you or Mitarashi-san. Another member of ANBU has been sent to retrieve her," the man said in a monotone.

"Of course," Naruko said, sighing. "A third of the time I'm called up there, it's because of something she did."

"To be fair, Naruko-san, half of the time Mitarashi-san is called up there, it is because of something you did," the ANBU shinobi said, a hint of amusement creeping into his tone.

"True, true," Naruko said, nodding her head. She sighed, then turned to Hinata, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, Hinata-chan, but it looks like we're gonna have to postpone lunch."

Hinata sighed. "I'll go with you, Naruko-chan."

"Thanks, Hina-chan!" Naruko chirped, then turned to the ANBU member. "Say, Tora-san, can you Shunshin us to the old man's office?"

The ANBU smiled behind his mask, saying, "Of course." He grabbed each young girl's shoulder and engulfed them in a plume of smoke.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Anko, your punishment is to round up all of the cats that you released into the Inuzuka clan compound and return them to their homes," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, sighing as Anko began pouting at him. "Immediately, Anko."

"Damn," the purple-haired kunoichi, clad in a trench coat, boots, and little else, muttered under her breath. "Nice seeing you again, Naruko-chan!" she chirped at the blonde sitting next to her.

"You too, Anko-san," Naruko said to Anko just before the older kunoichi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruko chuckled under her breath, then nodded to the Hokage. "Nice seeing you as well, old man."

Hiruzen snorted off a laugh. "Apologies for dragging you up here, Naruko-chan."

"None needed," Naruko said, waving him off.

Before Naruko even had time to stand up from her chair, the door to the Hokage's office slammed open, revealing a small child holding a shuriken. A long blue scarf was wrapped around his neck, but it was too long for him, at least six inches of the fabric pooling on the floor.

"I've got you this time, old man!" the kid shouted, running at the smiling Hokage. He raised his arm like he was going to throw the shuriken, but stepped on his scarf and slid, falling onto his back. The shuriken fell from his grip, skidding across the floor to settle against the wall.

Naruko and Hinata blinked, shock and confusion competing with just how funny they found the situation.

"Who tripped me?!" the little kid shouted, glaring at each occupant of the room in turn. "It was you, wasn't it?!" he shouted, pointing dramatically at Naruko.

Naruko snorted, rising to her feet. "Like I'd trip a little brat like you," the blonde shot at the kid, making him even angrier than he already was.

"Stop lying! I know it was you!" the kid yelled, starting to run at Naruko. However, he tripped over his scarf again. "Stop doing that!"

Naruko, beginning to get annoyed with the kid's constant accusations, picked him up by his scarf and held him off the ground. "If I say that I didn't do something, you ignorant little brat, then that means that I didn't do it," Naruko ground out through clenched teeth.

"Unhand him!" a shinobi wearing sunglasses shouted as he ran into the room, stopping just a few feet from Naruko. "That's the Hokage's grandson you're assaulting!"

Hinata shook her head, knowing what Naruko was about to do. "That may have been the wrong thing to say, shinobi-san," Hinata said somewhat quietly. "Naruko doesn't really care who someone is related to."

Naruko just stared at the shinobi, then formed a fist and bobbed the kid on the head.

"Ow!" the kid yelped, rubbing the spot that Naruko hit. "That hurt!"

"It was supposed to," Naruko said simply, dropping him on his ass and making him yelp again. "Come on, Hinata-chan. Let's go."

"Hai, Naruko-chan," Hinata said, hurrying out the door after the blonde and leaving the shinobi and the kid gaping in shock.

The shinobi, eager to salvage the situation (and try to build up some reputation in the Hokage's eyes), quickly said, "Don't pay much attention to that ne'er-do-well, Konohamaru-kun. She'll never amount to anything with that attitude."

"Ebisu-san," the Hokage stated in a monotone. "Konohamaru-kun is not here." The shinobi, now identified as Ebisu, swallowed nervously. "Since you think so little of Naruko-chan, you might want to find him before he finds her." Ebisu swallowed nervously again, now aware that he had insulted someone that the Hokage liked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Ebisu saluted, disappearing in a plume of smoke.

The Hokage sat back, pulling out a crystal ball and setting it on his desk. A few hand seals later, and the ball displayed an image of Naruko and Hinata exiting the Hokage tower, chatting amicably, and showed Konohamaru hiding in a tree near them, holding a piece of patterned cloth in front of himself to hide from the two kunoichi.

"This will be interesting," Hiruzen muttered, pulling out a pipe from under his desk.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"That kid is still following us, isn't he?" Naruko asked just before taking a bite from her sandwich. Hinata nodded, demurely drinking from her cup of tea. "I wonder why," Naruko muttered while chewing.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Naruko-chan," Hinata said, placing her cup back down on the table. They were eating at one of Hinata's favorite restaurants, which had outdoor tables in the shade of several large trees and a good view of the Hokage Monument.

"Why not, Hinata-chan?" Naruko asked around a mouth full of half-chewed sandwich. Hinata made a face at the blonde, causing her to laugh.

"It's rude and disgusting," Hinata muttered, taking a bite of her own sandwich.

Naruko grunted in response, taking another bite of her sandwich and looking around them, her gaze lingering on Konohamaru's hiding spot. She swallowed, then said, "What's in these sandwiches, anyway?" Naruko asked, genuinely curious but also hoping that the Hokage's grandson would get bored of watching them and leave soon.

"Grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, and the sauce uses butter, garlic, and a few different herbs."

"That it?" Naruko asked, raising an eyebrow. Hinata nodded, and she said, "The chef must be awesome, then. This is delicious." Hinata nodded again, then took another sip of tea.

"The chef is very good at what he does," Hinata said, then took another bite of sandwich.

"Sounds like you know him."

"He's a friend of the family."

"Oh," Naruko said, putting the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, Naruko said, "Say, want to go get some training in? I've got a new jutsu that I'm dying to try out."

Hinata sighed, then tossed a glance over at Konohamaru's hiding spot. "Are you sure? We'll have an audience now that you've said that."

"Eh?" Naruko said, then smacked herself in the forehead. "Damn it. I forgot about him." Hinata giggled briefly, then took a sip of her tea. Naruko shook her head. "Never mind him. Worst thing that'll happen is he'll learn something."

"That's fine, then," Hinata agreed, finishing her tea. She pulled out her wallet and laid a few bills down on the table, gesturing to a waiter that they were done. "Shall we go to our normal spot?" Hinata asked, referring to one of the small sparring grounds in the Hyuga clan compound.

"Nah, then the brat'll get in trouble," Naruko said, shaking her head. "Do you know which training field's have rivers or ponds?"

"Yeah, why?" Hinata asked, standing from her seat.

"It's a Katon ninjutsu," Naruko replied, standing up and stretching a bit.

"Great," Hinata muttered under her breath. "What'll she do now that she can set things on fire?"

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Katon: Endan!" Naruko shouted, feeling the chakra she had concentrated in her mouth turn into oil. She spat it out, watching as it decompressed and ignited in midair and sailed straight into the river. Steam rose as the oil, still burning, spread out across the surface of the river, effectively setting the water on fire. "That is so cool," Naruko stated plainly, staring at the burning river.

Hinata merely nodded her head, staring at the sight before her. Veins bulged around her eyes, showing that she had her clan's Kekkai Genkai, the Byakugan, active. To her eyes, the oil shone more brightly than the flames, proof of its birth through chakra.

Naruko clapped suddenly, startling the transfixed Hinata. "Well, I'm good for now!" Naruko said loudly, turning to look at the Hyuga standing next to her. "Anything you'd like to try while we're out here?"

"Well, actually, there is something I'd like to try," Hinata said, still staring at the burning river. "But we'll have to wait for the oil to burn out first."

"Aw," Naruko whined, staring at the flames again. "But this is so awesome!"

"Yes, but I need to use the water for this technique, and I can't if it turns to steam the second I start it. Plus, I'll need to put my hand on the water for it to work."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, in that case," Naruko said, turning back to face the treeline, "want to see what our stalker wants while we wait?"

Hinata sighed. "Nothing better to do, is there?"

"Well, we could always spar," Naruko offered, but Hinata shook her head.

"You just got out of the hospital today, Naruko-chan. You should take it easy for a while."

"Fine," Naruko huffed, pouting and crossing her arms. "Oi, Konohamaru!" she shouted, startling the young boy who was peering at them from behind a tree. "Come over here!"

"How did you know I was here?" Konohamaru asked sullenly, coming out from behind his tree and slowly walking towards the pair.

"For one, Hinata's Byakugan is active," Naruko said, pointing at the Hyuga's eyes. "Second, we've known you were following us since we left the Hokage Tower; you are _really_ bad at hiding."

"I am not!" Konohamaru yelled at the blonde.

"Yes, you are," Naruko stated plainly. Before Konohamaru could voice another protest, she added, "And now you can improve."

"Eh?" he said, cocking his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

Naruko sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "The only way you can overcome your weakness is to be aware of it and actively work towards improving," Naruko began, speaking calmly and plainly. "When someone says that you are bad at something, don't take it as an insult; instead, take it as criticism. That way, you can work towards getting better at whatever it is, and then, the next time you see that person, you can rub it in their face that they were wrong about you!" Naruko said, her eyes burning with passion.

"Eh?!" Hinata exclaimed, startled by the sudden passion Naruko had gained.

Konohamaru's eyes widened, and his opinion of Naruko had jumped significantly. "How should I start, then?"

"Well, if you want to get better at being stealthy, there are a few things that you can do," Naruko said, a glint shining in her eye. "But all of them water down to practicing, so I'll just tell what I did to get as good as I am."

"And what is that?!" Konohamaru asked, his eyes shining.

Naruko leaned in, looked around like she was checking for other people, and whispered into Konohamaru's ear. "I pulled pranks. A ton of them."

"What do you mean?"

"I started small," Naruko continued, ignoring his question. "Putting contact adhesive on doorknobs, flash painting graffiti onto people's houses at night. But then, as I got better at evading detection and getting away from pursuers, I was able to go much further with my pranks."

"How far?"

"I think that the best prank I ever pulled, professionally speaking, of course," Naruko said, glancing at Hinata, "was when I put dye into the Hyuga washing machines on laundry day."

"Naruko," Hinata warned, anger seeping into her tone.

"I said professionally, Hinata!" Naruko exclaimed, backing away from the smaller girl. "I snuck past an entire clan whose eyes can see everything! Stealth doesn't get much better!"

Hinata glared at Naruko for a moment, but eventually sighed and said, "True."

"Wait," Konohamaru said, drawing the girls' attention back to him. "You were pulling pranks to get more stealthy so that you could pull more pranks?" he asked, confused.

"Konohamaru," Hinata said gently, drawing his attention to her. "If Naruko had put a poisonous substance into the machines instead of just red dye, she could have easily wiped out the entire Hyuga clan." Konohamaru's eyes bulged in shock. "Her punishment was telling my father, the clan head, how she got past my clan's defenses so that we could avoid such an incident."

"Yup!" Naruko beamed. "If you're caught, you learn to get better at sneaking around. If you're not, you get to help improve the village's defenses!"

"Wow!" Konohamaru exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Before you go about with sneaking in the shadows, though," Naruko began, "it might be best if you learn how to become anonymous first. You know, blending into a crowd to lose pursuers before running off into the shadows."

"How am I supposed to be anonymous?" Konohamaru muttered, suddenly sullen. "No one can forget that I'm the Hokage's grandson."

Naruko blinked in surprise. "You don't like being the old man's grandson?"

"I like him, but I hate the attention sometimes," Konohamaru said, glaring at the ground. "No one can shut up about it, and everyone's always trying to get me to take him messages about how he should do things."

Naruko smiled slightly, revising her opinion of the kid. "In that case, how about I teach you a jutsu? It's pretty basic, and you'd learn it at the academy if you went there, but it's essential for any ninja to know."

"You'd really do that?" he asked, his eyes glimmering with childish glee.

"Yep," Naruko said, grinning. She yelped when he jumped at her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Thank you so much, boss!" Konohamaru shouted.

"Get off of me or I won't teach you," Naruko said darkly, making him yelp and let go of her.

"Sorry!" Konohamaru squealed, raising his hands up defensively.

Naruko sighed, shaking her head. "No, I'm sorry. Just try not to touch me in the future, okay? I... have a hard time tolerating it," Naruko said, gazing off into the tree line, dark memories flicking through her eyes. She shook her head again, driving back those memories. "Okay, let's get started."

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Henge!" Konohamaru shouted, his hands locked together in a seal as a plume of smoke enveloped him. Once it cleared, a very different person stood there. With long black hair pulled back in a ponytail, a different complexion and eye color, and nearly three inches taller, no one would recognize Konohamaru like this. He began to look himself over, but was interrupted by a swift smack on the head, dispelling the illusion.

"What was that for?" Konohamaru whined, his hands grabbing the top of his head.

"Clothes, Konohamaru, the clothes!" Naruko said, her finger right in front of his face. "You have to form an image of someone to transform into, but you can't put them in your clothes, you idiot!"

Hinata shook her head as she listened to the banter between them, her hand on top of the surface of the river. Her Byakugan active, she launched a quick two-finger jab into the water, projecting her chakra through it and causing a needle to form from the water. It launched itself nearly a foot before falling apart in the air.

"Probably need more chakra to hold it together," Hinata muttered, pulling back her hand to repeat the technique.

"There you are, Konohamaru-kun!" a voice shouted, and Hinata started as she realized that he had wandered into her Byakugan's range without her noticing. "Where have you been?!"

"Hi, Ebisu-sensei," Konohamaru greeted him, waving unenthusiastically. "I've been here."

"Why are you associating with these girls?" Ebisu asked, his distaste marked very clearly in his voice.

"Eh? What's wrong with them?" Konohamaru asked, tilting his head to one side.

"While there is nothing wrong with associating with a Hyuga, the noble clan that they are," Ebisu said, nodding at Hinata and making the blue-haired girl growl lightly in her throat, "I must ask that you refrain from spending time with orphans and street trash like _that girl_."

"If you've got a problem with me, then I suggest you just spit it out before I try to beat it out of you," Naruko growled at the man, making him calmly press his sunglasses further up his nose.

"Fine. I find you unsophisticated and untrained, neither of which is a quality that the grandson of a Hokage should be anywhere near."

"_Untrained_?" Naruko spat, fuming. "If you have a problem with me being _self-trained_, then how about I show just how good it can be?!" The blonde fell into a stance that she had taught herself, her right hand held open in front of her and her left fisted at her side.

Ebisu snorted in derision. "I see no reason to prove the futility of your _self-training_," he drawled, making Naruko even more angry. "Just stay away from the Hokage's grandson."

An idea popped into Naruko's head, and she left her stance. "If you want to make this about him, then fine. Let's compare based on him."

"What do you mean?" the man asked, confused.

"Tell me, how many jutsu have you taught him?"

Ebisu shook his head. "He is not ready to learn any jutsu yet."

"Is that so? He seemed just fine when I taught him the Henge," Naruko said, smirking at the startled shinobi.

"You taught him the Henge? _You_?" Ebisu snorted again. "I find that hard to believe."

"Why not ask Konohamaru-kun to show you?" Naruko asked, gesturing to the boy.

"Fine then. Konohamaru, if it is true that you learned how to Henge, show me."

Konohamaru blinked, then quickly molded three hand seals. "Henge!" he called, a plume of smoke enveloping him again. Once it cleared, another Naruko was standing there, looking herself over.

"You finally got the clothes right," Naruko said, nodding her head, then turned back to Ebisu. "It has been less than an hour since I showed him the hand seals for that jutsu. If that is him being 'not ready', then what the Hell are you waiting for?"

Ebisu's jaw gaped open as he stared at Konohamaru's perfect transformation into Naruko, looking back and forth between them to compare the two. Eventually, he sighed, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose. "Fine. You win, Naruko-san. Maybe he is ready for ninjutsu training after all." 'To teach him his first ninjutsu and have him able to actually use it in less than one hour,' Ebisu thought, looking at Naruko in a new light. 'She shows great promise as a teacher.'

"Oi, shinobi-san," Naruko said, glaring at Ebisu and making him snap out of his reverie. "How long are you gonna stare at me?"

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Team assignments!" Iruka said loudly, settling down the Genin, his former students. "Team assignments are as follows. Oh, it seems like there was an error somewhere down the line; my list is going reverse numerically. Anyways, from the top, Team Ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your Jonin-sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."

Ino groaned loudly, dropping her head down on her desk. "Damn. I wanted to be on a team with Sasuke-kun!" Ino whined, making a pink-haired Genin laugh.

"As Team Nine is still in circulation from last year, we'll move on to Team Eight, which will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Sakura Haruno," Iruka continued, all but ignoring the chatter from the Genin now.

The pink-haired Genin groaned and let her own head thunk against her desk, making Ino laugh at her in return. "Sucks, doesn't it, Forehead?" Ino jeered.

"Shut up, Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted back at her.

"Forehead!"

"Pig!"

"Both of you shut up before I come over there!" Naruko shouted, glaring at them menacingly.

"Thank you, Naruko," Iruka deadpanned, making all three girls blush in embarrassment. "Team Seven will be... odd."

"Odd how?" Shikamaru asked, curiosity beating out his laziness.

"Team Seven will be Sasuke Uchiha, Naruko Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuga," Iruka said, making some of the Genin stare at him in shock.

"Hell yes!" Naruko shouted, raising one hand behind her head. "High five, Hinata-chan!" As the two slapped their hands together, Sasuke sighed in resignation.

'At least they aren't fangirls,' Sasuke thought, staring blankly into space and suppressing a shudder at what could have happened if any of the other kunoichi had been on his team.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Where is our sensei?" Naruko growled to the air, having just completed her three hundredth game of hangman with Hinata since the last Genin team had left. Hinata sighed as she drew eight small horizontal lines on the last piece of paper that they could find.

"This is really starting to get annoying," Hinata grumbled, gesturing for Naruko to guess a letter.

"Fuck this!" Naruko shouted, stomping over to the blackboard to grab an eraser. After checking to make sure it had plenty of chalk dust on it, she stomped over to the slightly ajar door and stuck it right on top.

"Do you really think that a Jonin would fall for that?" Hinata asked, having watched Naruko set that prank up.

Naruko shook her head, an incoherent grunt of rage escaping her. "No. If he takes much longer I might set up a decent trap, though."

Just after the blonde said that, footsteps began to echo down the hall.

"Finally," Naruko grumbled, sitting back down. Hinata merely sighed again and crumpled up the piece of paper into a ball, tossing it into the garbage can halfway across the room.

A head topped with silver hair peeked into the room, and its owner began to open the door. As he did, the eraser fell, landing on his head with a thump and a puff of chalk dust.

Naruko looked at the masked Jonin like he was an idiot, as did Hinata. Sasuke just continued to stare apathetically into space.

"My first impression is: I hate you," Kakashi deadpanned, making Naruko rub the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"How did you even make Jonin if you couldn't see a simple trap like that?" Naruko shot at Kakashi, merely smiled at her, his eye closing and making a "U" shape.

"Dodging erasers isn't covered in the exam," Kakashi said, making Naruko even angrier. "Anyways, meet me on the roof in five minutes." Forming a hand seal, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

An incoherent yowl of frustration escaped Naruko. "He expects us to be prompt when he was three hours late!" she screamed, her fingernails digging into the palms of her fisted hands. Sasuke, not caring about his teammate's fit of rage, left the room, heading for the roof.

"Naruko," Hinata warned, dragging the blonde's attention to her. "Calm down."

"Why should I?" Naruko growled at the smaller girl.

"Because he was just trying to piss you off," Hinata said, quickly stepping over to Naruko. "The best way to get back at him is making sure he knows that he didn't get to you."

Naruko took a deep breath, preparing to shout at the girl, but thought better of it, quickly adapting to Hinata's logic. "Fine," she sighed. "Let's just go to the roof. I can bitch at him later."

"That's the spirit!" Hinata cheered, raising a thumb up and making Naruko sweat drop.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Okay, let's start this with some introductions," Kakashi Hatake said once Naruko and Hinata sat down on the concrete steps on the roof of the academy. "Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future."

"It's polite to introduce yourself first, sensei," Naruko said, her voice dripping with far too much honey to be good for the Jonin's health.

"Right," he muttered, eyeing the blonde carefully. "Well, my likes... maybe I'll tell you when you're older. My dislikes... hm, those are too personal. Hobbies are as well, and my dreams... heh."

Naruko twitched, Hinata sighed, and Sasuke glared at the masked Jonin.

"Okay, you're up, blondie," Kakashi said, noticing how Naruko twitched.

"Fine. I'm Naruko Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and learning new jutsu. I dislike people who are ridiculously late," she continued, glaring at Kakashi, "and people who obsess over small things. My hobbies are training and reading science fiction novels. My dream is to one day become ANBU Captain."

'Heh,' Kakashi thought, looking over Naruko. 'What'll she do when she learns I was in ANBU, I wonder?' "You're next, blueberry."

Hinata glared at Kakashi. "My name is Hinata Hyuga. I suggest you use it in the future," Hinata growled at the silver-haired man, drawing a nod from him. "I like learning new things, making herbal medicines, and getting stronger, and I absolutely hate being late." At this, Kakashi sweat dropped.

'They are not going to like me,' Kakashi thought, suppressing a giggle as Hinata continued.

"My hobbies are reading, making herbal medicines, and training. My dream for the future is to become head of my clan and abolish the Caged Bird Seal's use."

"I see," Kakashi said. 'A revolutionary? Or does she just hate slavery?' "Now you. The brooding one."

Sasuke glared at the man as well, making the Jonin sigh mentally. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. My likes and dislikes are my own, and I have no hobbies. My dream, no, my purpose is to one day kill a certain man."

Naruko glanced at Sasuke, disgust and curiosity warring in her eyes. 'Man, I'm glad I'm on a team with Hinata and not one of the fangirls from our class. They would have never shut up about how "cool" he is,' was her first thought. 'Who does he want to kill, though? What's his motive?'

"Okay," Kakashi drawled. 'His brother, most likely,' Kakashi thought to himself, remembering how Itachi killed all of the Uchiha clan, except for Sasuke.

"What was the point of this, again?" Naruko asked, her cheek held in one hand. "You probably already read our files, and we already knew each other and your name."

"Just for that, Naruko, I'm going to test you to see if you all actually make Genin or not," Kakashi said monotonously, shocking the three young Genin. 'Perfect excuse.'

"Wh-what?!" Naruko sputtered as Sasuke and Hinata both stared shocked at the masked ninja.

"A survival test. Tomorrow. Six a.m. at training ground seven," Kakashi deadpanned, turning away from the group. "Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll just throw up." Once he had finished, he formed a hand seal and disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Hinata and Sasuke slowly turned to glare at Naruko, but found that she had disappeared as well. In her place was a log that had a note stapled to it.

_How was I supposed to know?_

_~Naruko_


	3. Chapter 3

"Goddamn sensei," Naruko muttered, rubbing sleep from her eyes, as she wandered onto training ground seven. The sun had just barely peeked over the horizon, marking her as being a few minutes early.

"Mornin', Naruko," Hinata muttered, having been sitting on a stump for the past couple of minutes. She still felt very sleepy, though, as neither of them were used to being up this early.

"Sorry bout this thing, Hina-chan," Naruko said, too tired to realize that Hinata might be pissed off at this potential block to her dream. The blonde sat down beneath a tree and leaned against it.

"Mm-hm," Hinata grunted, trying not to fall asleep.

Mere seconds later, Sasuke appeared, actually seeming more awake than his female teammates, though neither of them were of a state to notice. Naruko merely yawned, and Hinata nodded at him in greeting, but no more words were exchanged until six a.m., the time that Kakashi had designated their test would take place.

Naruko, after checking the time on a pocket watch she had pilfered from a trash can in her youth, groaned in exasperation. "Please don't tell me he's going to be three hours late again," she moaned, trying to keep from falling asleep.

Hinata let her head droop, her blue hair shielding her eyes from view.

"Good idea, Hina-chan," Naruko muttered, letting her own eyes close as she fell asleep against the tree.

"Hm?" Hinata grunted, flashing a quick glance at the now sleeping Naruko. She rolled her eyes and let her head droop again, falling into a light sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Three hours later, Kakashi casually strolled into the clearing to find two of his students asleep and the third sitting on a tree branch. He sighed, making enough noise for Hinata to wake up. Hinata, upon seeing her sensei, threw a small rock at Naruko, hitting the young blonde right in the forehead and making it clang against the metal on her headband.

Naruko let out a shout of surprise as she woke up, making Hinata smile. Naruko half-glared, half-pouted at the young Hyuga, which made her giggle.

"If you two are done?" Kakashi deadpanned, making Naruko snap to attention and Hinata stop giggling. "Good. As I told you yesterday, not passing this test will get you sent back to the academy," he said, shooting a pointed look at Naruko. He then pulled a pair of bells from one of his kunai pouches. "To pass, all you need to do is take one of these bells from me. Whoever has a bell by noon becomes a Genin."

"There are only two bells," Hinata stated. "Is there a third one, or are you saying that only two of us can pass?"

"Very good, Hinata," Kakashi praised. "Yes, only two of you can pass. Although, it's more likely that only one of you will pass; this test has a sixty-six percent failure rate."

Hinata's eyes widened and Naruko's eyes narrowed. 'Exactly two-thirds,' the blonde thought. 'Three out of nine. Nine teams of three Genin to pass the academy this year.'

While Naruko was thinking, Sasuke decided it would be a good idea to get a jump on Kakashi before he was ready. However, the masked ninja was quick to demonstrate that a mere Genin couldn't surprise him in such a way, catching Sasuke's punch from behind and pulling him into an arm lock and using only one arm to do it.

"I never said go, Sasuke," Kakashi mocked, tying the bells onto his hip. "You'll have to listen to orders better in the future. What if an enemy ninja were to grab you like this? Let's find out," he said, pulling out a kunai and putting it against the struggling Genin's throat.

"What are you doing?!" Naruko shouted, anger flaring in her gaze.

"Teaching him a lesson," Kakashi said simply, throwing a kunai at Naruko's feet. "But I can teach you as well. Naruko! Kill Hinata or Sasuke dies!"

Naruko froze, stunned motionless by what Kakashi had just said. Her thoughts sped up, flowing too fast for her to follow, but she knew that she could neither kill Hinata nor let Sasuke die. Hinata was unable to move either, thinking that Naruko would let Sasuke die before she let her die.

"An enemy ninja will not show mercy," Kakashi lectured, removing his kunai from Sasuke and stepping off of him. "Acting aggressively against an opponent when you don't know what they're capable of is a death sentence, for you and your comrades. Remember, as shinobi, it is your job to look underneath the underneath."

Naruko and Hinata each let out a sigh, thankful that Kakashi hadn't been serious. Sasuke stood and cracked his neck, glaring at Kakashi.

"Oh, and one more thing about the test," Kakashi added. "If you have any hope of passing, you'll need to come at me as if you were going to kill me."

Hinata's eyes narrowed as she began to think, looking for any hidden meaning in what Kakashi had said. 'Look underneath the underneath, eh?' Hinata thought, reviewing everything that he had said.

Naruko had frozen again, death being a large and gruesome concept for her. A small primal voice spoke up in the back of her head; _'enemy,'_ it said, making Naruko close her eyes to help shut it out.

'Stop. Calm down. Deep breathes,' Naruko told herself, taking deep breathes as she pushed the voice into the back of her mind. 'Never again.'

"We've wasted enough time, now," Kakashi said, drawing Hinata and Naruko's attention back to him. "Begin."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruko glared at the Jonin from her hiding spot in a tree's thick foliage, a sheet patterned with splashes of different shades of green draped over her prone from. 'How do I get a bell?' Naruko thought again, trying to make a plan that could succeed. 'Maybe I could... yes, that might be my best plan of action.'

Kakashi stood bored in the middle of a clearing, then sighed as Naruko jumped down from the trees in front of him.

"You know, you're a bit different than the others," Kakashi said.

Naruko's response was to pull out a kunai and rush him, practically flying across the ground.

'Impressive,' Kakashi thought as he dodged the strike, only to see another Naruko reaching for the bells! He chastised himself mentally, realizing that Naruko hadn't made a sound when she pulled out that kunai and that the footfalls he'd heard were coming from his blind spot.

He dodged again, only to see yet another Naruko actually manage to touch one of the bells, making it ring. He jumped away, this time putting a fair bit of distance between himself and the blonde to prevent any further surprises.

"Very impressive strategy, Naruko," Kakashi praised as Naruko pulled out a pair of shuriken. "That almost worked. Almost."

Naruko threw the shuriken one after the other, and Kakashi dodged them with little effort, moving out of the way without even getting his hair clipped. As the second one passed, though, he saw a length of wire attached to it.

Turning his head slightly, Kakashi saw the two shuriken coming back at him at hip level, aimed straight for the lengths of string tying the bells to his belt. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and jumped away again, almost getting hit by a kunai that Naruko threw.

'Now!' Naruko thought, forming a hand seal and simultaneously redirecting the shuriken on wires to fly back at Kakashi. The exploding note attached to the kunai detonated, catching the masked ninja in its blast and covering the area in smoke and flame. Naruko pulled the shuriken back and put them away, slipping the wires from her fingers.

When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the Jonin was a few charred pieces of... wood?

"Damn it," Naruko hissed under her breath, letting go of the wires she held as Kakashi reappeared in front of her. She jumped backwards, putting some distance between herself and the masked ninja.

"You're doing well so far," Kakashi said, nodding at the young blonde. "But not well enough, I'm afraid." Naruko tried to hurry through a set of hand seals, but Kakashi blurred into motion, catching one of her hands. "We won't have any of that, now."

Naruko glared at the masked ninja, building a massive amount of chakra into the hand that he wasn't holding. "Eat this!" Naruko shouted, flinging her super-charged punch at the Jonin's chest.

Kakashi, sensing the chakra in her fist, let go of her hand and jumped away, his visible eye widening as a shockwave of chakra shot from the blonde's punch. He had to dodge again to avoid the blast and was still flung twenty feet away, twisting with cat-like grace to land on his feet.

'Very impressive,' Kakashi noted, as Naruko pulled herself back into a fighting stance, weighed her options, and jumped up into the canopy. 'And she knows when to run and hide.'

His hand shot up to grab Sasuke's, who had decided to take advantage of Naruko's distraction and press an attack. Sasuke twisted, shooting a kick at Kakashi's gut, but Kakashi grabbed the Uchiha's foot, stopping the attack. Sasuke, seeing the position that he had been put in, twisted yet again, his free hand reaching for the bells and touching one of them.

Kakashi dropped Sasuke and jumped away, Sasuke rolling back to his feet the instant he hit the ground. The Genin glared at Kakashi, going through a series of hand seals.

'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!' Sasuke mentally shouted, exhaling a ball of fire that was bigger around than Kakashi was tall, startling the Jonin. The flames surrounded him and slammed into the ground, scorching the ground and burning all of the plant life within it.

Nothing but a few scattered ashes remained after Sasuke ended his jutsu, making him wary. He looked around himself, checking to each side. 'Where is he? Not behind... Above?!' Sasuke looked up.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu," Kakashi's voice sounded from beneath Sasuke, one of the masked ninja's gloved hands emerging from the ground and grabbing onto the Genin's leg. He pulled Sasuke neck-deep into the ground before emerging himself, brushing off a bit of dirt from his shoulder.

"A threat can come from anywhere, Sasuke," Kakashi monotoned, reaching into his kunai pouch. "Even from below."

Sasuke tried to move his body, but found himself to be thoroughly cocooned in the dirt, unable to do more than ball his hands into fists. He could only watch as Kakashi pulled a book out of his kunai pouch.

Kakashi sighed as he began reading his favorite book and walked away. "You won't get out of there for at least an hour," he said to Sasuke. "Someone else _could _dig you out, but I doubt anyone will."

Sasuke glared as the Jonin slowly stepped into the more heavily wooded portion of the training ground, too angry to notice the presence behind him.

'I think I've figured it out,' Hinata thought as she stepped up behind the Uchiha mostly buried in the ground. 'Teamwork. That's the trick to this test.' She activated her Byakugan and, scanning the area around Sasuke, noted that it was heavily saturated with chakra. One simple tap from her Jyuken was all that it took to disperse the chakra, making the dirt around the young Uchiha crumble, losing its density.

"Come with me," Hinata whispered, just loudly enough for Sasuke to hear. "I've figured this test out."

'Good,' Kakashi thought, watching from the trees as Hinata helped Sasuke out of the ground.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Naruko!" Hinata hissed quietly, startling the blonde who was preparing to throw a kunai with a flash bomb at her sensei.

"Hinata?" Naruko whispered, keeping an eye on Kakashi and putting away her kunai. "What is it?"

"This test isn't about our abilities! It's on teamwork!" Hinata whispered back to her, making Naruko's eyes widen.

"Of course!" the blonde exclaimed loudly.

"There you are," Kakashi said, turning to face the two kunoichi.

"Damn it!" Naruko hissed, jumping down from the trees.

"Naruko, what are you doing?!" Hinata hissed down at her.

Naruko didn't answer; instead, she shot at Kakashi, her fist pulled back for a punch. He easily caught the punch, and she twisted in his grip, performing a move similar to the one Sasuke attempted earlier and reaching for the bells. Kakashi threw her as she got within an inch of the bells, sending her back first into a tree.

"Damn it!" Naruko hissed out, a bit of blood dripping from where she bit her tongue on impact. She tried to stand back up, but let out a gasp of pain and fell back down.

"Naruko!" Hinata shouted, jumping down from her perch in the trees to help.

"Broke my damn spine," Naruko hissed in pain when Hinata was close enough to hear her. After a quick scan with her Byakugan, Hinata paled.

"It already healed, Naruko," Hinata whispered.

"That's good, right?" Naruko asked.

"It healed wrong."

"Fuck. Not again."

"Just like that time with your arm. On three."

"One. Two. Three-AH!" Naruko screamed in pain as Hinata's palm jabbed into the blonde's back. The Hyuga's chakra gripped the misaligned vertebrae and pulled them back into position, making Naruko's vision go white with pain. It took her only a few seconds to get her vision back, and she had to wipe away a few tears that had fallen from her vision.

"Are you okay, Naruko?" Hinata asked, intensely worried that she had only made the problem worse.

Naruko stood up and cracked her back, wincing a bit but otherwise fine. "For now, yeah," Naruko said, her voice hoarse. "I'll make sure to get checked out at the hospital later, but I'm fine for now."

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, placing a hand over her still racing heart.

"Are you two done over there?" Kakashi asked, making the two girls' attention snap back to him. "You still have to get the bells, after all."

Hinata smirked, the veins around her eyes giving off a small pulse of chakra as she committed herself to the fight. "You up for this, Naruko?"

Naruko grinned wickedly, cracking her neck. "I've still got some fight in me."

"Put down a field, then," Hinata said, then ran at Kakashi. Naruko's grin grew even wider as the Hyuga began to throw palm and two-finger strikes at the masked ninja.

Kakashi dodged and parried strikes from the young Hyuga very seriously; he knew very well that if even one of her attacks hit him it could make this test infinitely harder on him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruko building up a massive amount of chakra. 'I wonder what she's doing,' Kakashi thought lazily as he continued to dodge and parry.

"Ninja Art: Chakra Miasma!" Naruko yelled out, releasing a massive amount of chakra over the clearing. The chakra seeped over the field like a mist, obscuring even Hinata's sight. Hinata immediately left the field, running up a tree to get out of it.

"You made it a bit thick, Naruko-chan!" Hinata called over to her.

"Yeah, I can tell," Naruko called back, panting hard at the sudden absence of most of her chakra. "I think I've only got a single super punch left in me, at most."

Kakashi, meanwhile, just stood in the cloud of chakra, thinking about what possible strategies the two could use this for. 'What is their next move?' he thought, then let out a light cough. Then another, and another, each one progressively worse.

'What the hell?' Kakashi thought, looking around him as a coughing fit racked his body. His eye widened as it hit him. 'Is her chakra alone doing this?!' he thought as he began stumbling out of the chakra field.

"Katon: Endan!" Naruko shouted, making Kakashi look up at her, alarm sparking in his eye. She spat out a single, small fireball, then collapsed onto the tree behind her, panting as she tried to keep from passing out.

Kakashi, thinking fast, put his hands into a single seal. 'Suiton: Teppodama!' he thought as he spat out a single orb of water, large enough to quench the chakra produced flame.

"Damn it!" Hinata cursed as she saw Kakashi foil their plan. "If only Sasuke had-"

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" came the shout from the other side of the clearing. Sasuke, one hand cupped in front of his mouth, threw down a massive fireball at the field of chakra, setting off a massive explosion as the ambient chakra fused with the fire nature chakra. Naruko barely got out of there in time, a single Kawarimi no Jutsu replacing her body with a log, but passed out on the other side of the river, nearly out of chakra.

When the flames subsided, nothing was left but ashes and dirt. Hinata let out a sound not unlike a squeak as she realized just what they all just did.

"He's... he's not dead, is he?" Hinata asked, scanning around with her Byakugan. "He can't be dead, he's a Jonin and we're just Genin. What if he's dead?! Oh, Uzume, what if he's dead?! (1)"

"I'm not dead, Hinata-san," Kakashi said from a few meters behind her, directly in her Byakugan's blind spot. "However, the bells were destroyed thanks to your team's recklessness."

Sasuke grimaced, anger coursing through him. Hinata let out another squeak, this time in fear of what her father would do when he hears that she would be going back to the academy.

"But, as the bells weren't the point of the test in the first place, you pass," Kakashi said, smiling with his eye.

"I- you- what?" Hinata stammered out, making Kakashi let out a single laugh.

"You pass," he repeated, jumping down from his tree and walking over to Naruko. Kakashi picked up the unconscious blonde gently and began walking again, this time to the hospital. "All three of you. We'll meet up on this training field again in a week."

'They did remarkably well,' Kakashi thought as he carried Naruko, Hinata walking next to him and keeping an eye on the blonde. 'If I hadn't been using a Kage Bunshin to fight them, I'd be dead right now. Even more impressive, they managed to work together, unlike anyone else I've ever had take this test. The raw power of both Sasuke Uchiha and Naruko Uzumaki, combined with the finesse and strategy of Hinata Hyuga; they will go far together.'

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruko's eyes fluttered open, only to immediately close against the harsh light. She let out a weak moan and rolled over onto her side, eyes squinting as she debated whether or not to go back to sleep. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, however, she saw a familiar figure sitting by her bed.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruko muttered, startling the girl.

"Naruko! You're finally awake!" Hinata exclaimed, beaming down at the blonde.

"Am I in the hospital again?" Naruko asked groggily. At Hinata's nod, she sighed. "I hope this doesn't become a habit."

Hinata giggled, slipping her book into a pouch at her side before Naruko could see that she was reading it. "It already kind of is, Naruko-chan. This is, what, the second time you've been here in a week?"

Naruko let out a low groan as she rose to a seat, her legs, covered by the paper gown she was dressed in, dangling over the side of the bed. "I hate hospitals," the blonde muttered as she cracked her neck. "Have you seen my clothes?" Naruko asked, finally taking in her state of dress.

Hinata smiled at her, picking up a cloth bag that was right next to her. "I picked up some clothes from your place on my way here. I had a feeling you'd be waking up today."

"Today? How long was I out?"

"About three days. You were in surgery just two days ago; the doctors are shocked that you've recovered this quickly, actually. Most people who have damage like that to their spine are typically knocked out of the shinobi program, and at best it should have taken you at least three years to-"

"That's great. Can I leave, then?" Naruko asked, interrupting Hinata.

The Hyuga sighed, lifting the bag of clothes back up. "I wouldn't have brought these if you weren't cleared to leave, Naruko."

"Thank Amaterasu, (1)" Naruko sighed, taking the clothes from Hinata. "And thank you."

"You're welcome."

"So, how'd it go after I passed out? Did you get a bell?" Naruko asked, excitement and depression mixing in her eyes.

Hinata smiled. "Nope."

"Aw, you didn't pass?" Naruko asked, now almost completely depressed. "Hey, at least we'll be going back to the academy together."

"I didn't say I didn't pass," Hinata said, still smiling. "Like I said during the test, it was about teamwork. It just turns out getting the bells was inconsequential. In fact, the bells were completely destroyed."

"What?" Naruko asked, not following Hinata at all.

"You passed too, Naruko-chan."

"I did?" she asked. At Hinata's nod, Naruko pumped a fist into the air, yelling, "Yatta!". After a brief moment, Naruko put her hand back down and said, "Wait, how'd I pass?"

Hinata sighed, hanging her head.

XxXxXxXxXxX

This chapter ended up being _so_ much later than I intended, and I apologize for that. It's also shorter than I saw it being, but I guess my goal before was a bit too high. Oh well. As long as you guys enjoy it, I'm happy!

(1): The Shinto religion will feature somewhat prominently in this work. It will require a bit of research on my part, though, so I apologize in advance if I depict anything incorrectly, and I ask that you accept it as a change solely for this work. Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto (also known as Ame-no-Uzume and as just Uzume) is the Shinto goddess of dawn, mirth, and revelry, which I feel is a decent fit for this Hinata's personality (Uzume is Hinata's patron goddess (2)). Amaterasu Omikami is the goddess of the sun and universe, and Naruko only chose her as a patron because she didn't really care enough to find out about the other gods and goddesses.

(2): I do not know if the Shinto religion actually lets its members chose a god or goddess to worship above all others, but in this fanfiction it is a near requirement. Most choose Amaterasu as their patron simply because she is Amaterasu, but a large and growing number of people are doing a bit of research into the gods and goddesses habits and choosing other Major Kami as their patrons because they feel that the god/goddess that they have chosen is a better fit for their own ideals.


	4. Chapter 4

"Alpha here. Report in."

"This is Echo, reporting in."

"Bravo here, reporting in."

"Sigma, reporting."

"Anyone have eyes on, yet?"

"Echo, no."

"Bravo, no."

"Sigma, yes."

"Location?"

"Four north, two east from drop point."

"Understood. Echo, Bravo, move to assist."

"Roger."

"Roger!"

"No assistance is needed, Alpha."

"That's what you said last time, Sigma. The target escaped from you then, too."

"Hn."

"Echo here, eyes on!"

"Bravo here, eyes on."

"Roger. Move in from flanking positions. Trap the target."

A few seconds passed, and the only sounds that the radios picked up were brief breaths and a slight hissing sound.

"Sigma here. Target captured and confirmed."

"Pink ribbon on the left ear?"

"Yes. Tora the cat is captured."

"It's scratching me again! What did I ever do to you, you stupid furball?!" Naruko shouted, making Kakashi wince as his radio couldn't handle the sheer volume and converted it into an ear-shattering screech. Kakashi sighed, setting a few folded bills onto the table as he stood up.

"Report back to the Hokage Tower immediately. And don't let it escape during transit."

"Roger."

"Roger."

"Fucking cat!"

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Congratulations on successfully retrieving Tora," Hiruzen Sarutobi said to the team, making Naruko glare half-heartedly at the old man. "Your pay will be transferred into your accounts as soon as the proper paperwork is filed. And I will be throwing in a bonus for beating the quickest time by a full twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, bowing slightly. "I am sure that my students will appreciate it. Are there any other missions that we can complete today?"

"Not today, I'm afraid. The last D-rank mission I had available for completion today was given out just before you came in. If you'd like, though, you can reserve one for tomorrow," the Hokage said, shaking his head.

Kakashi turned to his team. "What do you think, guys? Should we postpone tomorrow's training so that we can do more missions?"

Naruko shook her head. "We dedicated a day to training, we should keep it. The sooner you think we're ready for a C-rank mission, the better."

"Agreed," Sasuke grunted, a bit annoyed that he found himself agreeing with her more and more ever since they were placed on the same team.

"I agree as well," Hinata chipped in. "The one of us who could use the money the most is Naruko, and if she says we should train, then we should train. We're all tired of D-ranks."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, mentally chuckling as he faked surprise. "You've been ready for nearly two weeks now."

"What?" Naruko flatly asked, her head snapping back up from where she was glaring at one of her bandages. Her surprise and shock kept her from feeling her anger.

"I just thought you guys liked doing D-ranks," Kakashi offered, unable to keep himself from smiling. But, since he was wearing a mask, none of his students could tell.

Sasuke twitched, and he and Naruko both glared at Kakashi.

"Why you-" Hinata began, before biting her lip and taking a deep breath. "If you have felt this way, Kakashi-sensei, then why did you not say anything?" Hinata asked far more calmly than she was. "Such a misconception could potentially spell havoc in the field."

Kakashi's smile turned into a full blown grin, but was still impossible for his students to see. "My bad."

Hinata took a deep breath as she continued to glare at her sensei, and Naruko made an angry, primal sound deep in her throat. Sasuke merely twitched again, continuing to glare at Kakashi.

"So, would your team like a C-rank mission, Kakashi-san?" Hiruzen asked, laughter hidden in his voice. "I still have one available."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, bowing his head slightly.

"Good. I feel that your team is uniquely equipped to deal with this," the Hokage said, opening a scroll. "There are two Genin from Sunagakure no Sato who have left their village and become missing-nin. Normally, a Hunter (1) would have been dispatched to terminate them, but they crossed over into our borders very quickly, spending less than a day in Kura no Kuni. The Kazekage does not want to strain the relations between our villages by sending one of his ANBU after a pair of genin that have wandered into Hi no Kuni."

"Really?" Kakashi asked. "The potential amount of information on our forces he could gather that way is too large for this to be a good move."

"As you know, Suna and we are allies, and have been for a while now. As a result, the Kazekage has decided to outsource this mission to us, he has paid Konoha for a C-rank mission to hunt down the two missing-nin. Normally, we would send one of our own Hunters after them, but they are too far out on different assignments to call one in for two Genin-level shinobi. So, we are accepting the C-rank mission as what it is. Here: the mission scroll has a complete dossier on the two, including up to date profile and mug shots," the Hokage said, handing Kakashi the scroll.

"Their last known location was in a rice field just outside of Heigoku (2). We assume that this is their current base of operations because one of our civilian informants has said that they have been frequenting a bar that we know has been used as a base for rebellious movements in the past."

"Why do you think we're 'uniquely equipped' for this mission, Hokage-sama?" Naruko asked, shooting one last angry look at Kakashi, who was reading the scroll, before turning her full attention to the Hokage.

Hiruzen smiled at the blonde girl, then said, "The information we have on these two says that they are very unskilled in combating taijutsu. Normally, I would have turned this mission over to Maito Gai, but his team is currently escorting a bridge builder to his home in Nami no Kuni. As it stands, your taijutsu skill as a team is second best among our Genin."

"Second best?" Sasuke grunted, a bit of anger in his voice.

"That's actually a huge compliment, Sasuke," Kakashi said. "Maito Guy is a taijutsu specialist, and each member of his team is at least as good as a Chunin when it comes to taijutsu."

"I have a question," Hinata said, making Hiruzen nod at her. "If the mission is to capture trained shinobi from a different village, why aren't you sending a Chunin team?"

"We simply don't have any Chunin to spare at the moment," the Hokage said simply. "All of them are either out on missions or performing tasks around the village that we cannot do without. Even the academy teachers are too busy to take on a mission, and we don't have enough shinobi trained in medical ninjutsu that I can pull one or two from their duties at the hospital."

Hinata sighed. "I see."

"Alright!" Kakashi suddenly exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Is everyone done asking questions?"

"Apparently not," Naruko whispered to Hinata, making her giggle.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kakashi said, shooting a look at Naruko and making her freeze for a moment. "We'll meet up at the eastern gate tomorrow at seven thirty. Make sure you pack at least enough supplies for a week-long trip."

"Hai," the three Genin said in tandem.

"By your leave, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, bowing his head to the old man before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"By your leave," Hinata parroted, bowing as Kakashi had before opening the door.

"See ya in a week, old man!" Naruko chirped as she walked out the door, Sasuke wordlessly following her out. "See ya tomorrow, Sasuke-san," Naruko said in a much quieter voice to Sasuke once Hinata had exited and closed the door.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, nodding his head in assent before walking off through the hallways.

"So what should we do now, Hinata-chan?" Naruko asked, folding her hands behind her head. "We've got an extra three hours to kill today, after all!"

"We should make sure we have everything we need," Hinata muttered, placing her chin in her hand.

"So, shopping?"

"Yeah."

Naruko sighed. "Fine."

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Ma'am, I would like to ask you to leave," the store's owner said to Naruko. She and Hinata had gone to Konoha Munitions, a store that manufactured and sold a great deal of disposable weapons, such as shuriken, senbon, and explosive tags. "You're driving away my customers."

"As much as I would like to, I can't," Naruko sighed, shrugging. "I'm here with Hinata Hyuga."

The store's owner growled quietly, then shook his head. "Fine. Just don't break anything, you brat."

"Wasn't planning on it, _sir_," Naruko sneered at him. The man bristled slightly before backing away.

"Play nice, Naruko-chan," Hinata's voice came from behind Naruko, making her whirl around in surprise.

"Geeze, Hinata! How long were you standing there?" Naruko asked, her heart racing. Hinata giggled, then handed the blonde two packets of twenty-five senbon needles. "What's this for?"

"A gift, silly. My treat."

"You're buying me metal needles as a gift," Naruko deadpanned, making Hinata giggle again. "Why? What occasion?"

"We've been friends for a couple years now," Hinata began, making Naruko cock her head to the side, "and we've sparred more than once. I think that these will suit you better than shuriken, once you learn how to use them."

"What makes you think that?" Naruko asked, looking the packs of needles over.

"You aim with too much precision for a shuriken, and, as girls, we're not as strong as the boys," Hinata said.

"Speak for yourself," Naruko replied snarkily. "Remember just a few weeks ago, when I beat Kiba in that arm wrestling match?"

Hinata giggled again, her smile widening. "I remember him whining about it to his dog."

"Exactly," Naruko said, nodding her head.

"Well, take them anyways," Hinata said, gesturing to the packets of needles that Naruko was holding. "And besides, today's the second anniversary of the day we became friends."

"Eh?" Naruko tilted her head to the side again. "It is?"

"You don't remember?" Hinata asked, slightly disheartened.

"I didn't know what day it was when it happened. Hell, I don't know what day today is," Naruko said, her whisker-marked cheeks turning red in embarrassment. "I don't actually have a calendar."

Hinata blinked once, stunned, then shook her head. "Then it's a good thing we're doing this today. We'll buy you a calendar."

"Thanks, Hinata," Naruko chirped, still blushing. "I'll think of something to give you, okay? Maybe something from Heigoku."

Hinata smiled, then said, "Sounds good to me."

XxXxXxXxXxX

Hinata was the first of the three Genin to arrive at the western gate the next day, there a full five minutes ahead of time. In addition to her normal attire, she wore an additional kunai pouch, two scrolls, and a backpack full of supplies, and she was fully awake and aware, unlike the day she, Naruko, and Sasuke had to take Kakashi's bell test.

Which was why the first thing that she did when she saw Kakashi standing there waiting for her was to try to dispel any genjutsu.

"Eh? What's wrong, Hinata?" Kakashi asked, barely taking the time to glance away from his copy of Icha Icha Paradise to pay attention to his student.

"You're here before me," Hinata said, her voice containing a tone of disbelief. "You're always late, and I'm always early, and you're here before me."

"I'm never late, Hinata," Kakashi said calmly, turning a page in his book. "I always arrive precisely when I mean to."

Hinata stood just staring in disbelief at her sensei, and was still just standing there when Naruko walked up wearing an extra two kunai pouches and a backpack.

"Did I get the time wrong or something?" Naruko asked Hinata, snapping her out of her shock.

"No. You're early, in fact," Kakashi said, making Naruko raise an eyebrow questioningly as Sasuke joined the group silently, his only extra supplies contained in a backpack.

"Then what are you doing here?" Naruko asked. "You're always a few hours late."

"I'm not always _that_ late, now am I?" Kakashi asked, faking being disheartened by his students' questioning of his timing.

"Yes you are," Naruko stated as bluntly as possible, made even blunter by Sasuke nodding his head.

Kakashi was silent for a moment, seemingly broken by his students, before closing his visible eye to make a U-shape, something that his students knew meant he was smiling behind his mask. "Well, I'm here now, so let's go!"

With that said, he turned on his heel and walked out the gate, leaving his sweat-dropping Genin to follow or get left behind.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"We're making good time," Kakashi said, sitting in front of a campfire that Sasuke had lit a moment ago. "If we keep this pace up, we'll be able to eat lunch at a restaurant in Heigoku tomorrow."

"Thank Uzume," Hinata nearly moaned out as she rubbed her foot. "Only one more day of this."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, keeping his feet up off the ground instead of massaging them. He had an image to maintain, after all.

"I don't know why you guys are so tired," Naruko said, pounding a tent post into the ground. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow's hike."

"That's the spirit, Naruko!" Kakashi said, smiling.

"What's our plan for this mission?" Sasuke asked Kakashi, drawing his attention.

"Why are you asking me?" Kakashi asked, drawing some confusion from his Genin. "Back when I was a Genin, my sensei would make me and my team make our own plan of action. So, I'm going to make you make your own plan."

"How effective was that method of teaching?" Hinata asked, skeptical.

"Well, thanks to his methods, I made Chunin at age six," Kakashi said, drawing a gasp from Hinata, and a look of shock from Sasuke.

"Are you serious?" Naruko asked skeptically. "The age people are accepted into the academy at is nine, eight in exceptional cases."

"The age requirement is different during times of war," Kakashi said, sighing lightly. "I was a Genin at age five. I made Jonin at ten, and joined ANBU at twelve."

"You were in ANBU?!" Naruko asked, her voice changing from skepticism to admiration in an instant.

"Yes, I was. Now, if we can get back to planning," Kakashi said, changing the topic back to what they actually should be focusing on.

"Right," Hinata said, jerking her head away from looking at Kakashi. "I was actually thinking a little bit about this while we were hiking. What do we know about the two Genin we're hunting, Kakashi-sensei?"

"The nuke-nin are both male Genin level shinobi. One of them has long black hair and wears steel jewelry, which he uses for a few ninjutsu that he has made, and the other has extremely short blonde hair. Both of them tend to wear shirts that have no sleeves, and are step-brothers, according to our intel on them. They are likely not wearing their hitai-ate, or we would have found out about them from someone other than the Kazekage."

"Do we know any of their interests?"

"No. Although, they were almost convicted of raping a civilian woman."

Naruko grimaced, looking away from the campfire and focusing on the tent she was setting up.

"I see," Hinata said, looking into the fire and frowning. "Then I think our best bet will be disguising ourselves as a group of travelers. We can circle down south of the village and come up from there to make it look like we didn't come from Konoha, if anyone is paying attention to that, and we could hide our weapons and hitae-ate in our backpacks."

"Are you proposing we find our targets by being tourists?" Kakashi asked, making Hinata nod. "Good idea. I might stand out a bit, though, and, unless they are fresh out of the academy like you three are, I wouldn't be able to use Henge to stay with the group."

"Then Sasuke and I could pose as brother and sister, and Naruko could be posing as a rich friend of the family," Hinata suggested, making Sasuke chuckle and Naruko openly laugh. "What's so funny?" Hinata asked, pouting at Naruko.

"You and Sasuke are both loaded," Naruko gasped out between laughs, "and I, the orphan street trash, am going to play the rich girl? Hina-chan, that's priceless!"

"Not true!" Hinata protested, looking at Sasuke for support, only to see him chuckling. "Ugh!"

"I see you've already gotten in character," Kakashi deadpanned, making Naruko laugh even harder. He waited until Naruko calmed down before asking, "Would Naruko pretend to be Sasuke's girlfriend?"

"I don't think so," Naruko said, frowning and holding her chin in thought.

"Why not?" Hinata asked, looking between the two of them. "You've got great symmetry, in my opinion."

"I agree with Naruko on this," Sasuke said, speaking up.

"Why, though?" Hinata asked, growing frustrated.

"We don't," Naruko began, then closed her mouth, staring thoughtfully into the night sky. "We don't really... damn it, how do I say it?"

"'Click'?" Sasuke suggested. "You know, like puzzle pieces?"

"Pieces of what?" Naruko asked, turning to face the group after finishing pitching the tent.

"Of a puzzle," Hinata explained, only managing to confuse Naruko more.

"... I don't get it."

Hinata sighed. "I'll explain when we're back in Konoha, okay?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Okay, so Naruko and Sasuke aren't going to pretend to be a couple," Kakashi said, bringing them back to the matter at hand for the second time in this conversation. "Are there any other details that you need to work out?"

"Names, for one thing," Hinata said. "My eye color, a decently made background for each of us, and probably another change or two of clothes to make it more believable that we're civilians."

"Those are good points, but I'm talking about what you plan to do about the nuke-nin," Kakashi said. "What's your plan for them?"

"We find them first. What happens next depends on what they're doing. If they're pretending to be tourists, or something along those lines, we'll befriend them as tourists and convince them to meet up with us at a somewhat secluded area where Kakashi will be waiting to help us detain them. If they're skulking around in the shadows, we'll do the same and capture them," Hinata proposed.

"Sounds good," Naruko said, "but what do we do with them after we catch them?"

"We send a message to Sunagakure and cross the border to Kaze no Kuni, where someone will be waiting for them."

XxXxXxXxXxX

After two days of uneventful travel, Team Seven finally reached their destination. Sasuke and Hinata were exhausted, having found that two days of hiking through the forest ("like civilians," as Sasuke said) was enough to leave them aching and exhausted; even Naruko's seemingly endless energy was starting to disappear.

"Sensei, would it be alright if we retired to an inn before we start the mission proper?" Hinata asked, making an effort to be formal in an attempt to mask just how tired she actually was.

"Why, Hinata-chan?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head slightly to the side as he looked at her.

"This hiking is a bit grating on me," Hinata said, wincing slightly as she found a new blister on her foot.

"I'm a bit tired too, Kakashi-sensei," Naruko added, rubbing one of her eyes. "And it's already dark out."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, nodding his head in agreement with Naruko.

"Alright, alright, we'll find an inn to stay at," Kakashi consented, rolling his visible eye. "We're just about to pass through the main gate, though, so be alert. We don't want our quarry to catch on to us."

"Hai, sensei," Hinata said over Naruko's and Sasuke's grunts.

"Halt!" a voice called out to them from on top of the wooden barricade that stood between them and Heigoku. "State who you are and your business here!"

"Yo!" Kakashi called back lazily. "Newly formed Genin squad 7 and Jonin-sensei of Konohagakure no Sato. We're passing through on a diplomatic mission to Sunagakure no Sato. We planned on spending the night and restocking on supplies in the morning."

Naruko and Hinata shared a look, as that wasn't what he had told them their mission was.

"Do you have proof of identity?" the voice called back at them, its owner holding a torch up to show both sides who they were. The man carrying the torch was a rather stocky individual wearing a chain mail shirt and holding a katana.

"Right here," Kakashi said, tapping Naruko's hitae-ate. "Official headband plating of Konoha." Naruko glared at Kakashi for a brief moment, only turning away when he turned to eye-smile at her.

"Alright. Come on through," the guard called down to them. "Hey, Sanji! Open the gate! We've got some ninja coming through!"

"Yeah, yeah," came another voice from the wall. The sound of metal scraping rang through the air, and the gate in front of Team Seven slowly dropped outwards, falling heavily for the last few inches and kicking up a small cloud of dirt and dust.

"Thanks," Kakashi halfheartedly said to the guardsmen, waving lazily.

"Thank you!" Hinata called up to the guards.

"Yeah, thanks, guys!" Naruko said, her normal voice loud enough to be heard by them without her having to raise it.

As the four walked through the gate, the torch-bearing guard turned to the one he'd called Sanji earlier. "Nice to hear some thanks for once, eh, Sanji?"

"Yeah, it's pretty good," Sanji said, watching his breath frost on the air in front of him. "Damn, I could use a smoke."

"Come on, now," the other guard said, motioning to Sanji to raise the gate. "You know that shit's bad for you."

"Never stopped me before," he muttered, instinctively reaching into his breast pocket and sighing when he caught himself. "Wish I knew who stole my cigs."

The torch-bearing guard turned around, whistling innocently as Sanji began turning the winch that raised and lowered the gate. The guard checked his gear bag very quickly as Sanji was distracted, making sure that the stolen cigarettes were still there. (3)

XxXxXxXxXxX

"So what's the plan?" Hinata asked Kakashi as she rubbed her feet. She was sitting on top of a bed in one of the two rooms that they had rented in the inn, Naruko sitting next to her, Sasuke in a chair on the other side of the room, and Kakashi leaning against the wall. "And what was with the story you told the guards?"

"For all we know, the rogue Genin are bribing them to get information. We'll have to be very careful about how we do things here," Kakashi said, reading his orange book.

"Then what's the plan?" Naruko asked, flopping backwards onto the bed. "All this misdirection bullshit is annoying."

"Language," Kakashi warned, prompting Naruko to pull down her eyelid and stick out her tongue at him. "We're going to buy what supplies we need, including colored contact lenses for Hinata and Sasuke, and then leave town going west. We'll circle around to the north once we're a safe distance away and then come in from that gate in our disguises."

"What are our disguises going to be, again?" Naruko asked, pulling herself upright.

Hinata looked at Naruko, a mixture of amusement and annoyance in her eyes. "Did you forget already? We talked about this just last night."

Naruko chuckled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "I might have forgotten a detail or two."

"You two will be acting as if you were the daughter's of rich nobles," Kakashi said, rolling his visible eye, "while I will be acting as a samurai bodyguard and Sasuke as my apprentice. You'll act as prissy and refined as possible, and have somewhat loud conversations. That should help us draw out the two Genin."

"Why do you keep referring to them by rank? Why not by name?" Hinata asked Kakashi.

"Because you three are still young, I'm taking a simple precaution. It would blow our cover if you called one of them by name before they told you what their names were," Kakashi explained, making Hinata nod in acceptance.

"You can trust us with their names!" Naruko growled, pouting.

"No, I don't think he should," Hinata said, placing a hand on Naruko's shoulder. "I know that you are terrible at keeping secrets, Naruko. You blurt out information at the randomest times simply because you can't keep it in anymore."

"Not true!" Naruko protested. "I never told anyone about the time you-" she began, but was silenced by Hinata's other hand clapping over her mouth.

"Like I said," Hinata said, blushing slightly.

Naruko pulled Hinata's hand off of her mouth, then sighed and flopped back down on the bed. "Fine, you win. No names for them."

"Speaking of names," Kakashi said, drawing their attention, "we need to settle on fake names for this act. What do you think about Naruko being called 'Yukiko', Hinata being 'Emi', and Sasuke being 'Daisuke'?"

"Ugh, such a pretty name," Naruko spat, shuddering as she sat back up. "Can't I have something cooler?"

"But Naruko, what's cooler than snow?" Hinata asked, grinning as the blonde groaned.

"Promise me you'll never make that joke again and I'll take the damn name," Naruko muttered, laying back down.

"Could you stop that already?" Sasuke asked Naruko, who sat back up.

"Stop what?" Naruko asked, tilting her head to one side as she looked at the Uchiha.

"The whole sitting up and laying down thing," Sasuke said in a monotone.

"Why?" Naruko asked, flopping back down on the bed. "Something wrong with it?"

"Okay, that's enough, you two," Kakashi said, walking over to the door of the room. "We'll continue this conversation in the morning. In the meantime, get some sleep. You'll all be sharing this room."

"What?" Naruko asked, disbelief in her voice.

"You expect me to sleep in the same room as a boy?!" Hinata asked, mortified. "What if someone tells father?!"

Even Sasuke was against the idea, although he didn't voice his dislike of it.

"Now, now," Kakashi said, opening the door. "You three need to learn to sleep in close quarters together. After all, you are a Genin team; you'll probably end up sleeping in much smaller areas together if you stay on the same team." Kakashi stepped through the door and quickly shut it behind him, grinning beneath his mask.

'This'll be fun in the morning,' Kakashi thought to himself.

XxXxXxXxXxX

(1) According to Narutopedia, the Hunter Ninja division of ANBU only exists inside Kirigakure (unless I somehow read the page wrong; I'm writing this note a week or two after I last read it), but inside this modified world, I'm making the Hunter Ninja division a bit more prominent. It now appears in each of the five major shinobi villages, and elements of it can be seen in the smaller ones as well.

(2) Heigoku (which I really hope isn't actually a word in Japanese) is a combination of two Japanese words (unless my translator is stupider than I think it is and the words that I chose are actually other words, or aren't words at all): restful (heion) and rice (gokoku). The town of Heigoku is a small village that rests within ten miles of the border between Hi no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni, and that has large sections devoted to the growing, processing, and transporting rice. Despite it lying so close to a border, Heigoku is also a very popular rest stop for merchants and shinobi traveling between Sunagakure no Sato and Konohagakure no Sato, or the surrounding areas.

(3) No, this is not a crossover with One Piece. I made the characters, then thought to myself 'What's this guy's name? Sanji? Eh, fuck it, he's Sanji.' I made him a smoker to give him some dynamic with the other guard, Katsuo (at the time of writing this note, I have not yet named him in the story proper), as they will both be making minor appearances for the rest of this little C-rank mission, and they might appear again in later arcs if I decide to come back to Heigoku.


End file.
